ren and Miss
Danesbury."

Hester stood perfectly still, her color changed from red to white; for
full half a minute she was silent. Then, hearing voices from below
calling to her, she said in a cold, quiet tone:

"That will do, Alice; thank you for letting me know."

She turned to her drawer and put back Nan's white and pretty things, and
also replaced a new and very becoming shady hat which she had meant to
wear herself. In her old winter hat, and looking almost untidy for her,
she walked slowly down stairs and took her place in the wagonette which
was drawn up at the door.

Cecil Temple and one or two other girls whom Hester liked very much were
in the same wagonette, but she scarcely cared to talk to them, and only
joined in their laughter by a strong effort. She was deeply wounded, but
her keenest present desire was to hide any feelings of jealousy she had
toward Annie from the quick eyes of her schoolfellows.

"Why," suddenly exclaimed Julia Morris, a particularly unobservant girl,
"I thought you were going to bring that dear baby sister with you,
Hester. Oh, I do hope there is nothing the matter with her."

"Nan has gone on in the first wagonette with the little children," said
Hester as cheerfully as she could speak, but she colored slightly, and
saw that Cecil was regarding her attentively.

Susan Drummond exclaimed suddenly:

"I saw Annie Forest rushing down the stairs with little Nan, and Nan had
her arms round her neck, and was laughing merrily. You need not be
anxious about Nan, Hester; she was quite content to go with Annie."

"I did not say I was anxious," replied Hester in a cold voice. "How very
beautiful that avenue of beech trees is, Cecil!"

"But Annie heard Miss Good say that you were to take Nan," persisted
Julia Morris. "She could not but have noticed it, for you did flush up
so, Hester, and looked so eager. I never saw any one more in earnest
about a trifle in my life; it was impossible for Annie not to have
heard."

"The great thing is that Nan is happy," said Hester in a fretted voice.
"Do let us change the subject, girls."

Cecil instantly began talking about the coming plays, and soon the
conversation became of an absorbing character, and Hester's voice was
heard oftener than the others, and she laughed more frequently than her
companions.

For all this forced merriment, however, Cecil did not fail to observe
that when Hester got to the place of meeting at Burn Castle she looke